They asked but got NIL

From CalMatters: CalMatters filed a lawsuit against UCLA [last] Monday after nearly a year of attempts to obtain information about how the university pays its student athletes. Last fall, CalMatters submitted records requests to 16 University of California and California State University campuses, seeking information about payments to their Division I athletes, but many schools provided little or no information in response. The lawsuit states that taxpayers are entitled to know the names of players who have received money and the teams they play on...

The universities pay student athletes for the right to use their name, image and likeness — NIL — in promotional materials. The payments also help recruit top athletes or dissuade them from seeking better pay elsewhere. UCLA and UC Berkeley, which have the most competitive and most lucrative athletics programs among the state’s public universities, initially rejected CalMatters’ records requests. They argued that sharing information about their payments to students would put their players at a competitive disadvantage or violate students’ right to privacy in education. 

After meeting with attorneys at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, which represented CalMatters, both universities provided some records, which give a first-of-its-kind glimpse into the new dynamics of college sports. They each said they spent about $20.5 million paying athletes in the 2025-26 academic year, which is the maximum amount allowed. UCLA said it paid 229 athletes. UC Berkeley said it paid 147...

Full story at https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/08/student-athlete-payments-california/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 450

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The University of Chicago’s undergraduate social-sciences division will go “analog” this fall, implementing a blanket policy banning technology in class and AI assistance on coursework across the division’s core courses. New restrictions apply to students and faculty members in required social-sciences core sequences, which students typically complete in three phases during their sophomore year. The university’s law school announced earlier this summer a similar ban in required first-year core courses.

While many professors across the country have taken to banning tech in their classrooms and adding AI policies to their syllabi amid students’ increasing use of large language models, or LLMs, on coursework, the new policy at Chicago is among the first to articulate a coordinated prohibition. The university provides free Claude subscriptions to all students and faculty members through a contract with Anthropic, which has spurred debate over the role of AI and tech in learning.

The undergraduate social-sciences division will also ban in-class audio or video recording and prohibit faculty members from using generative AI to assist in grading. The policy memo outlining the changes, obtained and published on Sunday by the university’s undergraduate student newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, specifies that “wearable AI,” such as Meta’s AI glasses, are also prohibited in class...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/u-of-chicagos-social-sciences-division-bans-tech-ai-in-core-courses. 

Alternative Advice

If you go to Yale, you should embrace uncertainty. But if you go to Penn, you can explore bravely.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 193

From the NY Times: One of Harvard University’s biggest federal funding streams is down sharply, according to a New York Times analysis of government data. The declines have persisted even after a federal judge forced the Trump administration to reverse drastic cuts to the university last year. The funding, from the National Institutes of Health, currently lags about 18 percent behind the average pace of grants during the Biden administration, the analysis shows. Last year, Harvard successfully sued the Trump administration, after the government announced it had frozen more than $2.2 billion in 2025, from multiple federal agencies. But unlike then, when Trump officials made a public spectacle out of announcing the cuts, the N.I.H. is mainly delaying, reducing or rejecting grant requests, often leaving researchers and university leaders in the dark about what is happening...

The reduction appears to be the latest front in the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again war with Harvard and other elite universities. It is a new, more subtle tactic that is harder to fight in court, but that could be just as damaging if cuts and uncertainty build... As the Trump administration has pulled multiple levers to try to bring Harvard and other schools to heel, Harvard has often pushed back. It was the first institution to sue the Trump administration, has won in court on a number of occasions and has not reached a settlement with the federal government, as other prominent schools have done. Now, however, the university faces cuts that may be harder to counter. Last September, a judge ruled that the administration had improperly cut off funding to Harvard when it ended all of its grants in 2025, finding that the government had violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights.

But in the ruling, the judge suggested that there were lawful means the government could pursue if it wanted to restrict Harvard’s money, should it choose to. That is what is happening. Through June 30 of this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, the N.I.H. provided Harvard 309 awards worth a total of $200 million. The amount is down from an average of roughly 440 awards worth $246 million for the same nine-month period in 2021-2024, according to the latest data available...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/us/harvard-trump-costs.html.

SMC

Santa Monica College is one of the major feeders of transfer students to UCLA and is having fiscal problems that threaten its status. As blog readers will know, there is pressure on UC and UCLA to meet transfer student enrollment targets.

From the Santa Monica Daily Press: The years-long failure to arrest Santa Monica College’s enrollment decline and fiscal crisis has endangered the school’s accreditation according to a new warning sent by the institution responsible for evaluating community colleges. The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) notified SMC Superintendent/President Kathryn Jeffery in July that the college had scored in the "at-risk" category on the commission's Composite Financial Index, based on data submitted in the college's 2026 annual fiscal report. Institutions that score at-risk are automatically placed on enhanced monitoring, a designation ACCJC uses to track member colleges' fiscal stability throughout the accreditation cycle.

...[ACCJC Vice President Melynie] Schiel's letter cited four factors behind the at-risk designation: an unresolved structural deficit, marked by expenses exceeding revenue in each of the last three reporting years, from 2022-23 through 2024-25; a significantly unfunded Other Post-Employment Benefits liability with no district contributions over that same three-year span; a 34% decline in the district's ending cash balance over three years; and multiple expired collective bargaining agreements that remained unresolved. The commission required SMC to submit an update describing the actions it is taking to address those factors, and cautioned that colleges that remain on enhanced monitoring for three consecutive years without resolving their fiscal issues could face adverse action from the commission.

The ACCJC serves as the primary accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for two-year institutions across California and the Pacific, overseeing 136 colleges as of 2024. This institutional seal of approval is the critical mechanism that grants member colleges access to federal Title IV financial aid, ensures the transferability of credits, and maintains the essential academic legitimacy required to serve their student populations...

Full story at https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-college-faces-accreditation-threat-over-financial-crisis/. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 449

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: A report from the Education Department is recommending that the accrediting arm of the American Bar Association, the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, lose its federal recognition. If approved, the accrediting agency would no longer be eligible to serve as a gatekeeper of federal financial aid for the law schools it oversees.

The loss of recognition would mean that 13 free-standing law schools would have to find a new federally recognized accreditor to be eligible for federal student aid. The other 184 law schools that are accredited under the ABA could still get federal financial aid under the accreditation of the university that they are affiliated with.

That outcome could be months or even years away. The staff report will be reviewed next month by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an 18-member panel that makes recommendations to the education secretary on whether to grant federal recognition. After that, Nicholas Kent, the under secretary of education, will make a determination on whether to continue the accreditor’s status as a gatekeeper. The accreditor can then appeal the decision and could sue the department if it loses that appeal...

Florida and Texas have already removed a requirement that aspiring lawyers graduate from an ABA-accredited law school in order to sit for the bar exam, and several other states are considering a similar action...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/education-department-takes-first-step-to-revoke-recognition-of-law-schools-accreditor.

The Halt

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA paused some international students’ work authorizations after it received an Aug. 12 memo from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Dashew Center spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. Universities suspected of using curricular practical training programs to create employment for international students instead of reasons required for academic studies could lose their certification to enroll exchange and international students, the memo stated. CPT authorizations allow eligible students on F-1 visas to receive temporary authorization to work in a field related to their degree while attending school. 

ICE sent the memo to all universities certified to have international and exchange students through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, an agency under ICE that tracks international students’ records. SEVP saw a rise in CPT authorizations that “do not meet regulatory requirements,” according to the memo. UCLA plans to review the federal changes and is awaiting guidance from the UC, the Dashew Center spokesperson said in an emailed statement...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/08/25/ucla-pauses-some-international-students-work-authorizations-after-ice-memo. 

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 192

From the Harvard Crimson: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences selected 40 more employees for layoffs across two major academic divisions and several smaller offices last week, bringing a months-long staff restructuring to a close with 165 positions eliminated. In the final round, 40 employees across the Division of Science, Division of Arts and Humanities, FAS Dean’s Office, and FAS Office of Research Administration were selected for layoffs outright, while another 73 were offered the option between a layoff and a new role.

In total, FAS eliminated 165 positions, or roughly 10 percent of the roles in the units included in the restructuring, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra and FAS Dean of Administration and Finance Warren Petrofsky announced last week... FAS issued layoff and job-change notifications in five large waves this summer, after a smaller series of decisions affecting three sets of high-level administrators. The first wave, affecting department administrators and center executive directors, took place in June. A larger wave of College layoffs followed the next week, and several changes — including the dismissal of the Writing Center’s director and the end of the Dudley Community — drew fierce opposition from students and alumni. After more limited layoffs in the FAS’ central offices, two rounds of divisional layoffs this month accounted for the majority of the job changes...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/21/fas-layoffs-conclude-165-positions/.

Bond - Part 3

UCOP News Release: UC Nobel Prize winners back $7.5 billion proposed investment in California research

UC Office of the President, August 28, 2026

University of California Nobel laureates Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Randy Schekman released the statements below following a deal announced today on UC-sponsored SB 895, authored by state Senator Scott Wiener. The bill would place a measure on the March 2028 state ballot to provide $7.5 billion for cutting-edge research addressing some of California’s most pressing health, environmental and technological challenges.

“California built the world’s most successful system of research universities,” said Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., a UC Berkeley biochemist, Nobel laureate, and founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute. “SB 895 represents an important investment in the research infrastructure that will allow California to continue advancing scientific breakthroughs, improving lives, and driving innovation and growth for generations. We are grateful to Governor Newsom, Senator Wiener, and the legislature for their support of this important issue.”

“California’s strength and ingenuity depends on its ability to turn bold ideas into solutions to our most pressing problems,” said Randy Schekman, Ph.D., UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and Nobel laureate. “That’s why we need to invest in research and continue building on our nation-leading enterprise at UC. SB 895 will help protect the people and discoveries that drive billions of dollars in economic activity and improve lives across our state, and I thank Governor Newsom, Senator Wiener, and the entire legislature for leading the way on these efforts.”

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-nobel-prize-winners-back-proposed-investment-california-research.

For the record, Wiener is running to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress as she retires from her San Francisco district. She, however, has endorsed another candidate. Newsom is running for you-know-what. 

Something is missing

UC-Berkeley's Academic Senate released a report: "UC Berkeley Academic Senate Task Force Report on Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and Campus Climate in Higher Education."* Inside Higher Ed summarizes it as follows:

A faculty task force at the University of California, Berkeley, determined that—in addition to policies protecting free speech and academic freedom—a campus climate “characterized by trust and good faith” is essential to achieving the university’s core mission, according to a report released Thursday.**

But, at least to yours truly, something is missing from the document. Apart from rights, privileges, and means of expression, it is a value of a university to know what you are talking about. If there was more attention to that simple value, the "climate" would be (much) improved. Herd behavior and TikTok depictions are not a route to knowing what you are talking about. 

===

*https://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/af.fs.cc_tf_report_final.pdf.

**https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/21/berkeley-report-says-trusting-campus-climate-vital-mission.

Straws in the Wind - Part 448

From Inside Higher Ed: International student applications to American colleges dropped by 10 percent in the most recent application cycle—a decrease of roughly 16,000 students—according to... Common App... The figures show a major break from the upward trajectory of international applications over the past 10 years and reflect the impact of the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies. The landscape for international students in the United States has changed dramatically since the administration began revoking student visas, approving fewer new applications and limited the time international students can stay in the country. Department of Homeland Security data from the 2025–26 academic year showed an average 13 percent decrease in international student enrollment, and new projections say 112,000 fewer international students could be on U.S. campuses this fall.

The data represents applications to Common App’s 1,146 member institutions, which includes fewer than half of all public and private four-year colleges in the country...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2026/08/20/applications-international-students-down-10.

==

Common App report at:

https://www.commonapp.org/files/DAR/deadline-updates/2025-26/Common-App-End-of-Season-Report_25-26.pdf.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 191

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard International Office is now recommending that J-1 scholars and F-1 and J-1 international students enrolled in on-campus programs this fall try to be in the U.S. when a new Department of Homeland Security rule imposing four-year limits and other restrictions on student visa status takes effect on Sept. 15. 

The recommendation comes because the rule will apply differently to students and scholars already in the country when it takes effect. Those in the U.S. on the day the rule goes into effect will be authorized to remain without filing for an extension until the later of their program end date or the expiration of their post-completion work authorization, up to a maximum of four years. But current students and scholars who leave the country and return after Sept. 15 will become subject to the new rule upon reentry...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/21/hio-students-visa-rule/.

Not happy with delays (in part by AI)

I'm sure the Regents thought that they had put the SAT issue behind them, at least temporarily. The current Academic Senate leadership may have the same thoughts. But the Regents and the incoming Senate reps are likely to hear more about it, at least in public comments, at the upcoming mid-September meetings:

From the San Francisco Standard (8-15-2026), by Zvezdelina Stankova:* ...I teach mathematics at UC Berkeley. Three days a week, I stand in front of lecture halls with 500 to 1,400 students. By the second week of the semester, I already know who is in trouble. Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics. Office hours that should be spent discussing integrals instead become lessons on fractions and basic algebra you would expect students to learn in middle school. That is why this spring and summer, thousands of faculty members across all 10 UC campuses — including more than two-thirds of UC’s mathematics faculty — signed open letters urging the system to restore the SAT and ACT in admissions.

Five Nobel laureates joined us, along with professors from across the university, including Beatriz Manz, Berkeley’s first Latina full professor. We did so because what an admission letter is supposed to mean — that a student is ready to attend the school — no longer matches what we see in our classrooms. We did so because what an admission letter is supposed to mean — that a student is ready to attend the school — no longer matches what we see in our classrooms. 

In January 2020, a UC task force studied standardized testing and recommended keeping it. Then-President Janet Napolitano nevertheless urged the Board of Regents to phase out the SAT and ACT, citing pandemic disruptions and long-standing equity concerns. The regents voted that May to make testing optional, and a court ruling later that year, focused on access for students with disabilities, required UC to become completely test-blind through 2025. Since then, admissions officers have been forbidden from considering the one standardized measure that provided a common academic benchmark across California’s thousands of high schools.

Many peer universities have since reconsidered. MIT, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale all suspended testing requirements during the pandemic. All have reinstated them. Across the Ivy League, similar reversals are underway. UC has moved in the opposite direction. Faculty asked the university to revisit the policy quickly, but the timeline has repeatedly slipped. The Academic Senate now plans a review that will conclude in June 2027, meaning no new admissions policy could take effect before fall 2028. Students don’t have that kind of time: They attend college once! ...

Jennifer Doudna, the Nobel Prize-winning Berkeley scientist known for pioneering gene editing, summarized the concern in a letter to the regents this summer. “The test-blind policy was a well-intentioned experiment,” she wrote, “but the reality in our classrooms shows that it has failed.” Admitting students who are unprepared, she warned, “sets them up for discouraging struggle. … We cannot afford another cycle of administrative delay.” ...

Full op ed at https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2026/08/15/uc-berkeley-sat-test-blind-admissions-math-scores/.

===

*Zvezdelina Stankova is a teaching professor of mathematics at UC Berkeley and recipient of the Mathematical Association of America’s Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award — the nation’s top honor for college math teaching. She is also one of the five original authors of the UC STEM faculty open letter urging the University of California to restore the SAT and ACT.

===

NOTE: The Daily Cal found that the op ed was partly written by AI:

https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/uc-berkeley-professor-admits-to-using-ai-in-op-ed-calling-out-students-lack-of/article_be1360f7-6e2a-42f6-ae76-f05d8cee74c4.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 447

From the Columbia Daily Spectator: The [Columbia] Law School introduced a largely permissive policy on generative artificial intelligence this month that allows students to use AI as a “learning aid” but continues to bar its use to generate submitted content. The policy went into effect Aug. 1, replacing the school’s interim AI policy, which was put in place last year and prohibited any use of AI in drafting coursework, even when disclosed. The new policy broadly permits AI usage for a variety of reasons including studying legal concepts, generating hypotheticals, summarizing cases, and identifying potentially relevant authorities. The Law School’s faculty-led generative AI task force, established by Dean Daniel Abebe in fall 2025 to advise the school on adapting to the technology, recommended the policy.

...To support the shift, the school will also implement AI-related introduction courses, courses and seminars specializing in AI, and AI training during new student orientation... Despite expanded usage, the policy still ultimately bars students from submitting AI-generated content as their own, noting that they must “bear full intellectual responsibility” for their arguments and academic submissions. Students must also disclose any AI usage in their work and may not use AI in exams.

...Whereas the Law School frames itself as having an “affirmative obligation” to teach students how to productively use AI tools, other law schools have stepped away from AI usage altogether. The University of California, Berkeley School of Law introduced a policy in May banning students from using AI for class assignments and exams, and the University of Chicago Law School took it a step further by announcing in July a total ban on laptops, tablets, and phones in the classroom for first-year law students...

Full story at https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/08/15/law-school-introduces-largely-permissive-ai-policy/. 

Bond - Part 2 (deadline for '28)

We noted back on August 17th that a $5 billion research bond backed by UC was passed by a state senate committee. While it is too late for that bond to appear on the upcoming November 2026 ballot, if enacted by the full senate by August 31st and then signed by the governor, it could appear in 2028. If not passed by August 31, the complete legislative process would have to be repeated.

One Fourth+

From SFGATE: ...Geffen Academy at UCLA had the highest acceptance rate for UCLA with 26%, or 16 out of 61 applicants, gaining admission. Not far behind was the LA County High School for the Arts, with a 25% acceptance rate...

Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/acceptances-uc-high-schools-22187590.php.

Straws in the Wind - Part 446

From the Alabama Reflector: The Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees voted... to dissolve its faculty senate and staff council, the latest school to do so after passage of a state law this spring. In a statement Tuesday, Randall Jones, the chair of the board, said it had “a responsibility to ensure Jacksonville State University complies with Alabama law while providing sound governance, accountability, and responsible stewardship of the public resources entrusted to the university.”  

...HB 580, sponsored by Rep. Troy Stubbs, R-Wetumpka and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in April, limits faculty senate bodies to advisory roles; requires periodic reviews for tenured professors and give boards of trustees at colleges and universities the final say in developing curriculum. It was passed in April and is set to go into effect Oct. 1.

Auburn University’s Board of Trustees voted in June to abolish its faculty senate and take direct control of curricula, even though the law had provisions for Auburn and the University of Alabama, both established under the state Constitution, that the law would not be construed to impede the authority “to manage its respective campuses.” ...

Full story at https://alabamareflector.com/2026/08/17/jacksonville-state-university-board-of-trustees-dissolves-faculty-senate-staff-council/. 

Fixing (Buying) Westwood

From LinkedIn: UCLA has become one of the largest commercial landlords in the Westwood area of Los Angeles after paying $49.8 million for a 16-property portfolio, Realty Today reports. The properties include 181,855 square feet of retail, office and open space just south of UCLA’s campus. The seller was Anderson Real Estate, the family company tied to the late John E. Anderson. UCLA’s business school is named after Anderson, whose family donated more than $140 million to the university. UC Investments, which manages the system’s roughly $190 billion portfolio, has not announced any redevelopment plans. The acquisition gives the university direct control over leasing and tenant mix in a district that has struggled with retail vacancy near 40% in recent years amid the closures of chains like Sur La Table and Victoria’s Secret. The purchase follows a broader pattern of UCLA real estate acquisitions, including the $700 million Westside Pavilion mall conversion into a research park and the $55 million South Bay property now being redeveloped into a sports medicine institute.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thomastitle_uclas-landlord-era-what-the-university-activity-7493068074108162048-G4lV.

Note that there is confusion in the item above between "UCLA" and UC (systemwide) Investments. It is the latter that apparently made the purchase. This transaction may be (yet) another attempt to fix Westwood's chronic vacancy problems which date back decades. The Daily Bruin reports that the Urban Outfitters store shown above - part of the purchase - is closing:

https://dailybruin.com/2026/08/21/westwoods-urban-outfitters-closes-after-22-years-following-uc-investments-acquisition.

It would seem logical, or at least in keeping with Economics 1, that if you want to fill vacancies, you need to cut the rents (maybe a lot) until commercial tenants are attracted.

Yale Deal - Part 11

From the Yale Daily News: ...Two digital billboards appeared alongside stretches of Interstate 91 and Interstate 95 in New Haven decrying Yale’s settlement talks with the Trump administration. The digital billboards, which are 14 feet tall and 48 feet wide and went live on Aug. 10, display the message “Yale is failing intro to ethics by cutting a deal with Trump” alongside a circled red “F.” They were purchased by Indivisible, a national advocacy group whose aims include defending against the Trump administration’s attacks on higher education, according to its website.

The group is hoping to raise awareness about Yale’s negotiations with the Department of Justice as students return to campus this fall, according to Indivisible’s National Advocacy Director Andrew O’Neill. Yale College, Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School are under federal investigation for allegedly discriminating against white and Asian applicants. The University has proposed at least two offers to the Justice Department amid settlement negotiations...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/billboards-along-i-95-join-chorus-urging-yale-not-to-settle-with-trump.

Straws in the Wind - Part 445

From The Dartmouth: ...Coalition for Open Democracy — a nonpartisan activist group focused on political equality based in Concord, N.H. — filed a lawsuit challenging N.H. H.B. 323. The bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte on April 3 and went into effect on June 2, eliminated the option to use student ID cards as proof of identity when obtaining a ballot on election day. The lawsuit claims that H.B. 323 “unconstitutionally burden[s] the fundamental right to vote” and therefore violates the First, 14th and 26th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution... Before H.B. 323, school-issued student identification cards served as a valid form of ID to obtain a ballot at polling locations. Now, only government-issued ID — a driver’s license, nondriver identification card, military ID or passport — will be sufficient... 

The lawsuit cites Dartmouth’s vehicle policy, which restricts first- and second-year students from having a vehicle on campus. This, they wrote, leaves students with “no incentive to obtain costly driver’s licenses” and “limited ability to access DMV locations in order to obtain a state-issued identification card.” The nearest DMV to the College is in Newport, N.H., which is 37 miles away...

Full story at https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026/08/flavin-activist-group-sues-new-hampshire-to-block-ban-on-use-of-student-ids-to-obtain-ballot. 

Ad Hoc Plan or Master Plan?

Assemblymember Dorothy M. Donahoe
who pushed the 1960 Master Plan through the 
Legislature (Donahoe Act)
 but died before it was signed.

From time to time, yours truly notes the need for a new Master Plan for Higher Education defining the roles of the three segments, and the tendency of the legislature to make ad hoc policy. A true master plan would involve a process of review involving the three segments - UC, CSU, community colleges - and various interest groups. Instead, we have piecemeal legislative efforts and interventions. From the Sacramento Bee: 

From the Sacramento Bee: Over the last decade, community colleges in California have slowly entered into what has historically been the purview of the University of California and the California State University: providing bachelor’s degrees. With the goal of increasing access and affordability, this new baccalaureate program adds to the California Community College system’s main offerings of certificate programs and two-year associate degrees. At present, more than 30 of the state’s 116 community colleges offer bachelor’s degrees in subjects including respiratory care, dental hygiene and mortuary science. But to be approved, these degrees must ensure not only that they meet regional workforce needs but also that they do not duplicate programs offered by the UC and CSU systems. This condition aimed to preserve the original mission of each higher education segment and ensure efficient use of state resources. 

Now, a pair of bills moving through the California Legislature may ease that restriction. Senate Bill 960 and Assembly Bill 2694, though somewhat different, would both allow community colleges to duplicate programs offered by traditional four-year public universities if they are not within the same geographic region. SB 960, in addition, would authorize duplication of bachelor’s degrees offered at CSUs in the same region if those programs have been oversubscribed for three consecutive years...

Full story at https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article316937137.html.

Note: The original Master Plan is at:

https://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/MasterPlan1960.pdf.

What Me Worry? - Part 2

BruinADVISORY: UCLA Participating in Regional Active Assailant Training Exercise Aug. 26

Bruin Community,

UCLA will serve as one of several locations participating in a coordinated regional active assailant training exercise taking place across Southern California on Wednesday, August 26. As part of the regional exercise, the UCLA Police Department (UCPD) and partner public safety agencies will conduct training at Hedrick Court and Parking Lot 10 from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

This is a controlled training exercise only. There is no active threat to the UCLA campus or surrounding community, and no protective action is required.

During the exercise, community members may see a significant law enforcement presence, including personnel in uniform and tactical gear carrying firearms and training equipment, role players, emergency response vehicles and helicopter activity in and around the exercise area. Simulated gunfire and other loud sounds may also be heard.

UCLA’s participation is one component of a broader regional exercise designed to strengthen coordination, emergency preparedness and the ability of public safety agencies across Southern California to respond together during a critical incident.

UCPD will continue providing regular public safety services throughout the exercise. Community members should avoid the immediate training area and follow all posted signage and directions from public safety personnel.

We recognize that the sights and sounds associated with this type of training may be alarming. Signage and public safety personnel will be positioned around the exercise area to help identify the activity as training and answer questions.

We appreciate the patience and cooperation of the UCLA community and surrounding neighborhoods while UCLA and participating agencies take part in this important regional exercise.

Sincerely,

Office of Campus & Community Safety

===

Note:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrbqmzCZS_A.

Online UC Retirement Program - Part 2

Your UC Retirement System

Description: The Your UC Retirement System class offers an overview of retirement benefits offered by UC.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN? This class covers UC’s primary retirement benefits that provide a foundation for retirement income, and voluntary retirement benefits that offer additional saving opportunities in UC’s 403(b), 457(b) and DC plans.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Employees who want to learn about the benefits offered through the primary and voluntary retirement programs and how they work together to help prepare for a financially secure retirement.

DATE AND TIME: August 27, Noon

Sign up for Online Program at:

https://fmr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ijclrx04Q7mPZlMcKN-2Yw#/registration.

Straws in the Wind - Part 444

From Reuters: The U.S. Department of Justice said... it was probing the College of William & Mary, ​alleging the Virginia-based public research institution favored ethnic minorities ‌in certain scholarships and student benefits, and marking the Trump administration's latest targeting of an educational institution... The university said it was reviewing the ​information it received from the DOJ and did not ​comment on pending litigation matters. It said it was committed ⁠to nondiscriminatory learning environments and complying with federal and ​state laws.

While William & Mary's scholarships are not limited to any race, ​the DOJ said in a letter that one scholarship gave "top consideration" to applicants with "interest in diverse people and perspectives." The DOJ said Hispanic women were given ​preference in a fellowship at W&M's School of Education and ​that certain scholarships at W&M Law School "appear exclusively earmarked" for graduates of ‌Historically ⁠Black Colleges and Universities.

Some programs were established to deal with the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination at William & Mary...

Full story at https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/doj-probes-college-william-mary-alleging-discrimination-favor-minorities-2026-08-17/.

They keep coming

EdSource notes that despite the recent federal restrictions on international student visas, enrollment of international students at UC has not fallen off:

...According to preliminary fall admission data, UC admitted its largest class of first-year students this year, including 23,569 international students. That figure reflects an 8% increase in admitted foreign students compared to last year, though fewer are expected to enroll at UC campuses. The system will release its Fall 2026 enrollment figures in December or January, a UC spokesperson said.

Other California universities have seen drops in enrollment. At the University of Southern California, enrollment of international students dropped by 3% last year. And at the California State University system, where international students make up a smaller portion of the student body compared to UC, foreign enrollment had been declining years before Trump took office. 

About 14% of UC’s enrollees are international students, according to PPIC. These students pay more in supplemental tuition than California residents, which helps subsidize the cost of college for in-state residents. For California residents, UC’s tuition for the 2027-28 school year costs $16,278 per year. For nonresident and international students, the annual cost of tuition is $57,300...

Full story at https://edsource.org/2026/trump-student-visa-policy-impact/764348.

It is possible, of course, that the impact of restrictions is delayed. We won't have data on UC enrollment for the current academic year for several months. 

Remote

From the Daily Californian: SSAP-UAW, the union that represents undergraduate advisers, is bargaining to stop a return-to-office mandate that would require UC Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science undergraduate advisers to work on campus three days a week, up from once a week, arguing the change would cost workers thousands of dollars a year. Letters and Science announced that its undergraduate advisers must return to their on-campus offices three days a week, extending their one-day-a-week schedule which has been in place since 2021. A union survey found that the extra commuting expenses would cost advisers an average of $6,738 a year.

Ziva Armstrong, a senior college adviser in the college’s undergraduate adviser office and member of the union’s bargaining team, said the change will have a heavy impact on the unit’s long-haul commuters, who commute from as far as Stockton and Sacramento. Undergraduate advisers in Letters and Science earned an average gross pay of $6,637 per month in 2024, according to Armstrong.

...SSAP-UAW is bargaining with the university for a stipend to cover transportation costs and equitably exempt advisers who commute over 50 miles per day...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/administration/letters-and-science-advisers-bargain-over-return-to-office-requirement/article_755c0c27-e54f-4002-968e-6f62e0a328c1.html. 

Straws in the Wind - Part 443

From the Daily Princetonian: Two Princeton University professors and a former professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary were awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in July. The new $41.4 million wave of humanities funding follows a legal battle regarding the future of federal support for the humanities. In 2025, more than 1,400 NEH grants were terminated, including funding for Princeton researchers. In May 2026, a federal judge ruled that the NEH’s termination of these grants was unconstitutional, mandating that the agency rescind the terminations. It remains unclear when the grants will be distributed. 

The awards given out this July are among the first NEH grants issued since that ruling... The NEH did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the awarding of grants now and in the future.

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/08/princeton-news-adpol-professors-awarded-neh-grants-months-lawsuit. 

Answering the Call

From Inside Higher Ed: Just over two weeks after Education Secretary Linda McMahon called on colleges to outline their plans for reform,* the University of North Carolina System responded on behalf of its 17 institutions. In an 11-page letter..., UNC System President Peter Hans and Board Chair Kellie Hunt Blue outlined the minimum admissions standards for the system’s universities and touted efforts to keep tuition affordable for in-state students, among other points.** McMahon had asked colleges to answer a series of questions about seven topics, including admissions, free speech, prioritizing American interests and academic rigor in the age of AI.

Florida public colleges and universities also responded... McMahon asked institutions to publicly post their answers by the end of the year. Like the Florida institutions, Hans and Blue noted that they’ve been working on the issues addressed in McMahon’s letter for many years. “Your seven questions are both timely and a reflection of longstanding challenges to the integrity of higher education,” they wrote. “Access, student success, affordability, and efficiency, economic impact, and institutional excellence have been our consistent goals through a turbulent chapter of American higher education.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/08/20/how-unc-system-responded-mcmahons-call-action.

===

*https://ia600601.us.archive.org/32/items/blog-3rd-qtr-2026/McMahon%20Call%20to%20Action%20by%20Universities%208-3-2026.pdf.

**https://www.northcarolina.edu/wp-content/uploads/reports-and-documents/president-docs/8.18.26-doe-letter.pdf.

Parallel Blogs / Subscribing

We have been putting out this blog since 2009 under the heading "UCLA Faculty Association" using the link:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/

The blog site was originally created by the then-executive director of the Faculty Association. As such, yours truly does not have control of the site; he is simply a blogger on it. So when technical issues arise, that can be a problem. Given that issue, we have been adding a parallel site with the same blog entries since July 23rd:

https://danmitchellsblogcontinues.blogspot.com/

We will be running the two in parallel for the indefinite future. Possibly, at some point we will switch to the new link.

If you read the blog using the Facebook page of Yousee Elayemeriti, you can continue to do so:

https://www.facebook.com/yousee.elayemeriti 

===

Want to subscribe?

You can't subscribe directly. But you can subscribe indirectly to this blog via a service called Blogtrottr. Go to blogtrottr.com and fill in the URL for the blog:

https://danmitchellsblogcontinues.blogspot.com/ 

or

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/

and put in your email address. 

You will then receive an email at the email address you provided asking you to confirm. After you confirm, you will receive an email notification of new postings whenever they appear. If there are, say, three postings on a particular day, you will receive three notifications (one for each one). 

Note and full disclosure: There are ads on these notifications. 

The Pay and Benefits Man

From UCNet:

UC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Rachael Nava made the following announcement:

Dear Colleagues, 

Following an extensive nationwide search, I am pleased to announce that Calvin W. Turner has been selected as the vice president of Systemwide Shared Services (VP SWSS), effective August 10. 

This is a critical role on my senior leadership team and an important next step in the evolution of UC Operations. It reflects our continued work to build a more integrated, strategic approach to serving UC employees and retirees. 

In September 2025, I announced the formation of SWSS, uniting UCPath and the UC Retirement Administration Services Center (RASC) under one leader.  This was an intentional step toward strengthening coordination across these critical functions, creating greater alignment in how we deliver services, and building a shared-services organization positioned to meet the evolving needs of the university. 

With approximately 600 dedicated UCOP employees supporting employees and retirees across the UC system, strong and sustained leadership for this organization is essential. I am very pleased that Calvin will lead this next phase of our work. 

Calvin brings deep expertise in shared services, operational leadership and organizational transformation to this role. He started his UC career in 2021 as the executive director of UCPath. Since October 2025, he has also served as the interim VP of SWSS.  

Before UC, he was the director of the National Finance Center (NFC), a leading federal shared-services provider supporting payroll, human resources, financial, insurance and administrative services. NFC provides payroll, HR, financial and administrative services to more than 650,000 employees in 170 agencies, and health insurance services on behalf of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to the entire federal civilian workforce and tribal organizations.  

As NFC Director, Calvin successfully ensured continuity of business operations through natural disasters and unprecedented government shutdowns, while simultaneously growing NFC’s customer base, implementing operational improvements and launching organizational transformation initiatives to improve transparency and customer service.  

Prior to joining NFC, Calvin had more than 20 years of banking leadership experience at Hancock Whitney Bank, Hibernia National Bank (now CapitalOne) and the Federal Reserve Bank, and he was also previously an associate instructor with the University of Phoenix at the New Orleans campus. Calvin has a master’s degree in public administration and an undergraduate degree in business management and communication. Calvin will continue to be based in Riverside, California, and will travel to Oakland and all UC locations periodically. 

Over the coming months, Calvin will continue engaging leaders and staff across UCPath, RASC, UCOP and the broader UC system to further develop a strategic roadmap for SWSS, advancing our vision for a more connected and effective service experience for UC employees and retirees across the full journey from “hire” through “retire.” This work will also focus on strengthening operational excellence, accountability and service across UC Operations. Calvin will also launch a search for the executive director of UCPath. 

I would like to thank the search advisory committee for their tremendous effort and helpful insights during this process: 

• Ahmet Palazoglu, Chair, Systemwide Academic Senate and Distinguished Professor, UC Davis
• Erin Gore, Senior Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, UCSF
• Kurt Schnier, Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer, UC Merced
• Dianna Henderson, Vice President of Human Resources, UCOP
• Van Williams, Vice President of Digital Innovation and Technology, UCOP  
• Christine Lovely, Chief Human Resources Officer, UCLA
• Caín Díaz, Associate Vice President, Budget Analysis and Planning, UCOP
• Marisa McAuliffe, Chief Policy Advisor, President’s Executive Office

In addition, my thanks to several other colleagues who advised on this search: 

• Amy Block Joy, Professor Emerita and Chair-Elect, Council of UC Emeriti Associations
• Susan Abeles, Chair, Council of UC Retiree Associations
• Jenny Kao, Vice President and Chief of Staff to the President
• Nathan Brostrom, UC Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

I also want to share my gratitude for the executive search team from Isaacson, Miller, as well as Pamela Wu and Quincy Kinsey in Systemwide HR’s Executive Search and Recruitment Team, who provided support for this search. 

Please join me in congratulating Calvin on this well-deserved appointment. I look forward to working with him and all of you as we continue building a stronger, more integrated UC Operations organization that serves the university with excellence. 

Sincerely, 

Rachael Nava 

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer 

University of California

===

Source: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/employee-news/calvin-w-turner-appointed-vice-president-of-systemwide-shared-services/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 442

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The University of Texas at Austin unveiled plans... for a sweeping makeover of its undergraduate core curriculum, replacing a sprawling system of hundreds of course options with a more prescriptive menu organized around foundational texts, broad fields of study, and what the university calls the “fundamental questions and themes” of human life. The proposal, detailed by President Jim Davis during a meeting of the university system’s Board of Regents, would reduce the number of credit hours in the core curriculum, from 42 to 36. Some core credit designations are slated to be replaced with categories such as “Western Civilization,” “Masterworks of Literature,” “Great Questions of Human Life,” “Principles of American Politics,” and “Computer Science & AI.”

That plan is laid out in a much-anticipated report... from a 22-member faculty task force whose members Davis selected in the fall to “identify gaps in quality, rigor, or intellectual cohesion” in UT-Austin’s core and propose solutions. Administrators hope to implement the new curriculum by the fall of 2028. The goal, Davis told regents, is to “wipe the slate clean and rewrite the core from the ground up,” noting that the existing system “has devolved over time into a haphazard grab bag of classes.”

The proposed changes at the state’s flagship come as Texas universities adjust to Senate Bill 37, which gives governing boards greater control over academic offerings. The University of Houston, Texas A&M University, and Texas Tech University have announced similar reviews of their core curricula; the latter two systems have faced federal lawsuits challenging restrictions on course content...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/republicans-want-colleges-to-emphasize-western-civ-ut-austin-plans-to-do-just-that.

Hacked

From the Daily Californian: Most know better than to wire money to a Nigerian prince — but today’s scammers have adapted their strategies, according to Charron Andrus, associate chief information security officer at UC Berkeley. “Phishing,” according to UC Berkeley’s Information Security Office, is when “cyber criminals trick you into giving them your personal information, like passwords or credit card details, by pretending to be a legitimate company or person.” To do this, they often send fake emails and messages, or even create fake websites.

Undoubtedly, phishing has made its way to UC Berkeley. The ASUC Communications email account was hacked, and unauthorized phishing messages were sent from its email address to additional recipients before the ASUC Communications team could recover the account. The ASUC Communications email account received a phishing message on Aug. 11 disguised as a Google Docs proposal, according to ASUC Chief Communications Officer Juliette Rackohn. The phishing email came from a hacked UC Berkeley email address with which the ASUC Communications account had previously corresponded.

The ASUC account and the hacked UC Berkeley account were secured, though not before unauthorized messages were sent to other recipients, according to Rackohn...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/asuc-hacked-by-phishing-scam-campus-office-launches-phish-tank/article_49e5ee58-e67d-42ec-b5e3-226d91ac1721.html.

I don't know if the Nigerian princes are still out there, but there are still old-fashioned hacks floating around. Received a few days ago:

 

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 190

From the Harvard Crimson: House Republicans published a sweeping report... accusing Harvard of failing to protect national security interests through repeated academic collaborations with China. The 53-page report — released jointly by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the Education and Workforce Committee — is the product of a 15-month investigation into Harvard’s ties to China and the CCP. It slams Harvard’s research compliance program as “devoid of substance” and claims the University enabled a long history of research relationships with China that put sensitive military technology at risk. Though some of its findings rehash previous investigations, the report makes a broader case against the University’s protocols for monitoring foreign entanglements, based on interviews with top Harvard officials and a review of thousands of documents shared with the committee by Harvard...

A Harvard spokesperson pushed back against the report’s findings, saying the University “follows national security standards and guidance set by the federal government for its international collaborations.” ...

[The report is] the latest episode in a renewed effort by the federal government to scrutinize Harvard’s foreign entanglements. The Department of Justice is currently investigating whether the University’s acceptance of “Chinese-linked” financial aid gifts violated civil rights law and the Trump administration has long pointed to Harvard’s ties to China to justify its campaign against international students...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/18/house-republicans-harvard-china-report/.

Robinson Retires as UC general counsel

From UCNet: 

UC Board of Regents Chair Maria Anguiano and UC President James B. Milliken made the following announcement last week:

Dear Colleagues,

We write to share that Charles F. “Charlie” Robinson, general counsel and senior vice president, Legal Affairs, has announced his plans to retire in June 2027, after 20 years as the University of California’s chief legal officer.

Charlie joined UC as the general counsel in January 2007, and in the two decades since, he has built and led one of the most respected legal departments in higher education — a team of more than 165 attorneys spanning our 10 campuses, six medical centers, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. As the university’s chief legal officer with responsibility for all of the institution’s legal matters, Charlie has provided counsel to the Board of Regents, five university presidents, and countless chancellors and other university leaders, guiding the institution through an extraordinary range of legal and institutional challenges...

Full release at https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/employee-news/charles-f-robinson-to-retire-as-general-counsel-and-senior-vice-president-legal-affairs/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 441

From the Daily Princetonian: A federal appeals court ruled that a Title IX lawsuit brought by a male undergraduate student who was suspended in 2023 after being found responsible for choking two female students can move forward. The ruling, decided on July 21, reversed the New Jersey district court’s decision dismissing the lawsuit in its entirety. The ruling allows the male student to continue pursuing his Title IX lawsuit against the University. At issue is whether or not sex motivated the University’s decision to suspend the male student.

At the center of the case are claims from two female students, identified in court documents as “Sarah Smith” and “Jane Roe.” They filed separate complaints against the male student, “John Doe,” alleging that he choked them in arguments at or on the way to campus parties during the spring of 2023. The following fall, Doe, a sophomore at the time, was investigated for the two incidents after Smith and Roe separately submitted reports to the University. According to court documents, the Faculty-Student Committee on Discipline found Doe responsible for assaulting Smith and Roe. Doe was also found in violation of the University’s Alcohol Policy by allegedly hosting and serving alcohol to underage individuals. 

Doe was suspended for two years on grounds that he violated the University’s Personal Safety Policy, which bans “any physical assault committed … on the premises of the University or in the local vicinity, especially when unprovoked and/or when injury results.” Doe filed a lawsuit against the University for breach of contract, Title IX violations, and negligence in June 2024, which was later dismissed by the New Jersey district court for failing to state a claim.

In a ruling released this July, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed the dismissal unanimously and sent the case back to the district court for further evidence-gathering and trial. The appeals court found that Doe’s allegations about the University’s handling of the investigation were sufficient to allow his Title IX claim to proceed. Doe alleged that both Smith and Roe’s stories had “evolved” over the course of Princeton’s internal investigation and an “inconsistent manner of seeking out evidence.” Universities including Princeton have “struggled to find the proper balance” between protecting victims and ensuring that respondents receive fairness, Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause wrote in the ruling...

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/08/princeton-news-titleix-lawsuit-suspended-male-student-appeals-court. 

Another traffic mess on the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass this weekend

Another traffic mess on the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass this weekend. From Patch:

Traffic will be impacted on the 405 Freeway and nearby roads beginning Friday when construction will shut down several lanes and ramps of the interstate in the San Fernando Valley for the entire weekend.

Here's a look at the closures, planned for 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21 through 5 a.m. Monday, Aug. 24:

• The southbound 405 will be reduced to three lanes between Ventura Boulevard and Mulholland Drive
• The Ventura Boulevard on-ramp to the southbound 405 will be closed
• The northbound 405 off-ramp to Getty Center Drive will be closed

Source: https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/kn4f0/405-freeway-closures-to-snarl-traffic-in-la-county-beginning-friday.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 189 (parts unknown edition)

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard agreed [last] Monday to a $53 million settlement to resolve civil lawsuits accusing the school of negligence in its handling of donated human remains. The lawsuits stem from the conduct of Cedric Lodge, a former HMS morgue manager who was sentenced to eight years in prison in December for unlawfully transporting stolen human remains. Federal prosecutors said that between 2018 and August 2022, Lodge took organs, brains, faces, and other body parts from donated cadavers after they had been used for teaching and research but before they could be disposed of. He brought the remains to his New Hampshire home and sold them to buyers in several states, including Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Six co-conspirators who purchased remains from Lodge have since pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

As part of the settlement, HMS will make a statement to claimant families via a live webinar affirming that Lodge’s conduct was “morally reprehensible” and inconsistent with Harvard’s standards, along with a summary of changes made to the Anatomical Gift Program...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/8/19/hms-morgue-settlement/.

Old timers will remember that UCLA had its own body parts scandal back in the day:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-15-me-willedbody15-story.html. 

And there was a still earlier scandal at UCLA regarding disposal of bodies which is referenced in this article:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-oct-26-me-body26-story.html.